A. Field of the Inventions
The inventions relate to the field of pumps for pumping a slurry of grout to a remote location, tools for use at the remote location on a work surface. The inventions also related to control boxes and tools used for applying grout to a work surface in a controlled fashion. The inventions also relate to methods for accomplishing the foregoing.
B. Prior Art
There has been significant, but so far unsuccessful, effort in the prior art to construct group pumps, grout delivery systems, and grout applicator tools which provide for smooth and even application of grout to a construction surface. However, some of the prior art attempts to address the problem have yielded systems which either much be recharged with grout very frequently, thereby imposing a significant amount of down time and walking on the worker. Other prior art systems provide a continuous but uncontrollable flow of grout to the applicator tool, thus often oversupplying or undersupplying grout to the construction surface and resulting in an inferior finish.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,914 issued on May 23, 1978 discloses an apparatus for applying tape and adhesive to wallboard joints.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,410 issued on Apr. 3, 1984 discloses a hopper for containing drywall joint compound.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,644 issued on Apr. 18, 1989 discloses a projecting gun and nozzle which may be used to apply drywall coating material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,621 issued on Nov. 7, 1989 discloses a projecting gun and nozzle for spraying material such as drywall material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,955 issued on Mar. 13, 1990 discloses a drywall finishing tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,054 issued on Aug. 14, 1990 discloses a pneumatic drywall texture bazooka.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,941 issued in Mar. 5, 1991 discloses a wallboard taping system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,389 issued on May 7, 1991 discloses a wallboard taping apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,011 issued on Aug. 6, 1991 discloses a spray-on surface texture dispenser for discharge of drywall texture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,386 issued on Aug. 11, 1992 discloses a wallboard spotter tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,752 issued on Aug. 11, 1992 discloses a gypsum wallboard taping system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,263 issued on Feb. 23, 1993 discloses a spray-on wall surface texture dispenser.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,684 issued on Jan. 18, 1994 discloses a wallboard taping apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,700 issued on Jan. 18, 1994 discloses an automated wallboard taping apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,096 issued on Jul. 12, 1994 discloses a spray on apparatus and method of operation for spraying heavy viscous material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,461 issued on Nov. 29, 1994 discloses an outsider corner finishing tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,211 issued on Aug. 22, 1995 discloses a spray machine for giving a texture to drywall.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,953 issued on Nov. 5, 1996 discloses a mud mixing machine for drywall texturing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,251 issued on Feb. 25, 1997 discloses a pulseless pump apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,691 issued on Aug. 12, 1997 discloses a spray texturing device for texturing a wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,057 issued on Oct. 7, 1997 discloses a submersible canned motor mixture pump.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,462 issued on Jan. 27, 1998 discloses a drywall tool filling pump.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,483 issued on Jan. 27, 1998 discloses a liquid spraying system controller including governor for reduced overshoot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,819 issued on Mar. 24, 1998 discloses a dispensing apparatus and method for dispensing fluid material to a surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,343 issued on Jun. 2, 1998 discloses a taping gun mud pump apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,525 issued on Jun. 30, 1998 discloses a drywall and stucco application device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,146 issued on Jan. 26, 1999 discloses an apparatus for applying joint compound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,921 issued on Mar. 9, 1999 discloses a grout delivery apparatus with a flexible supply tube. The grout is supplied to a hand tool at a constant rate, although the rate may be pre-selected by the working through use of a switch.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,925 issued on Mar. 9, 1999 discloses a drywall joint compound pump workstation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,691 issued on Mar. 16, 1999 discloses an automatic drywall compound applicator.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,451 issued on May 11, 1999 discloses an applicator for wallboard joint compound. The applicator includes a control valve for controlling the flow of mud.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,598 issued on Jul. 20, 1999 discloses a drywall mud storage and distribution system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,426 issued on Oct. 19, 1999 discloses a knockdown portable liquid drywall material spray system apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,797 issued on Nov. 9, 1999 discloses a handheld pressurized hopper gun.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,365 issued on Apr. 25, 2000 discloses a texture pump and cleaner assembly.
For the purposes of this document, the term xe2x80x9cgroutxe2x80x9d shall include viscous materials used in the construction trades, such as drywall compound, plaster, paste, stucco, adhesive, glue, aggregate slurry, concrete, and other liquid and semi-liquid pumpable materials.
Grout is often used to fill in cracks, depressions, divots or defects in drywall surfaces. A particular problem faced by the drywall worker is how to apply a desired quantity of grout to a drywall blemish in a controlled manner, from a device that is maneuverable and efficient to use.
Accordingly, it is an object of some embodiments of the inventions to provide a pumping system and hand tool which deliver grout to a worker in usable amounts.
It is a further object of some embodiments of the inventions to provide a pump system which provides a continuously and automatically adjustable supply of grout to a remote location.
It is a further object of some embodiments of the inventions to provide grout of adjustable consistency to a construction worker
It is a further object of some embodiments of the inventions to provide a pumping system that maintains grout at a desired consistency, automatically adding water as necessary to provide thinner grout consistency.
It is a further object of some embodiments of the inventions to provide a handtool control box which may be used to apply grout to a work surface smoothly and in desired quantities.
It is a further object of some embodiments of the inventions to provide a grout pumping system that automatically mixes grout and water to a desired consistency before delivering it to a remote location for use.
It is a further object of some embodiments of the inventions to provide a handtool control box with a pressure-regulated valve that continuously adjusts the quantity of grout being supplied to a work surface.
It is a further invention of some embodiments of the invention to provide a handtool control box that automatically terminates grout flow when not in use.
These and other objects of the inventions will become apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the specification and viewing the appended drawings.